Oberstar barely won a fierce ethnic battle 36 years ago, but plays big role in health care fight

Now that Congressman James Oberstar is making a rare appearance in the national news, as a switcher in favor of Obamacare, I am reminded of the day he was first endorsed for the office.

It was in 1974 and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's convention was in Duluth. Oberstar had an advantage in that he had served as chief aide to outgoing DFL congressman John Blatnik for 12 years.

Nevertheless, the endorsement battle raged for hours through dozens of ballots before Oberstar finally prevailed.

During the proceedings a veteran DFL politician from the ethnically diverse district, which inludes Minnesota's Iron Range, walked up to me in the press section and said something like this: "You dumb sonsabitches. You think this is about schools. You think it's about highways. That's got nothing to do with it."

"This is between the Serbs and the Croats."

Indeed, it was. The losing side in the endorsement battle ran its candidate against Oberstar in the DFL primary election, but lost badly. Oberstar has been in Washington ever since, and is now chairman of the House Highways and Infrastructure Committee.

This suggests that highways were, indeed, part of the deal.